IN NOMINE FAQ
(FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
Copyright © by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
What is In Nomine?
In Nomine is a game about the ultimate struggle: between the
selfless and the selfish, between good and evil, between God
and Satan. Ultimately, though, it comes down to angels and
demons both trying their damndest to sway humanity to their
side. Annoyingly though, humanity and its precious free will
keep spoiling plans of both the diabolical and the divine. In
the game, you can play anything from a human just awakened to
the Struggle, a Soldier who is a little more powerful and a
lot more in the line of fire, an undead creature or, as
most do, an angel or demon.
Where can I get a copy? What's up with all those missed
deadlines anyways? Isn't it still being worked on?
Not at all! After a lengthy delay (no doubt the work of the
Fallen Ones), it is out. The book was primarily delayed to
make sure that it was the best possible book that could be
put out. It went through extensive playtesting and revision
to try to keep the quality top-notch.
What is this In Nomine hardback I keep hearing about?
They printed up more interiors than covers, so they are
making hardback versions of the rules for those who want a
snazzier-looking book.
Isn't In Nomine just a translation of the french game by
Croc, In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas?
More correctly, In Nomine (the SJG version) is an adaptation
of Croc's game. The basic concept is very similar, but if
there were a true 'translation' of INS/MV into English, the
differences would be obvious. There was a direct translation
into German for those who are interested.
Where is all the detail about the world, the heavens, the
hells, etc?
The book ended up being over 200 pages, so there was a
definite limit on what could be included. Seven supplements
are planned for the year after In Nomine's initial release,
one of which (the GM's screen) was ready in February. There
is a LOT of material waiting to be published, fear not! Even
with just the original book, though, you can run many, many
adventures in a very complex, highly detailed world. Some of
you know it as earth... ;) (Nearly any Bible can make an
excellent source of adventuring ideas!)
Who's who in In Nomine right now?
o The original author of INS/MV is Croc
o The publisher is Steve Jackson Games
o The designer/author of the SJG version is Derek Pearcy
o The line editor is Mike Sullivan (Moriah)
o The main netrep is John Karakash
o A notable mention is Jason Newquist who has a delightful
In Nomine rules page. He credits many people on that
page... check it out!
RULES QUESTIONS
Angels
SERAPHS
Can a Seraph of Yves tell that a 'person' is a demon by using
their servitor attunement? How about the Word of a
Word-bound Celestial? Their choir/band?
Yes, but let the check digit determine how much information
is given.
Artifacts
CORPOREAL ARTIFACTS
How much does a Corporeal Artifact cost? Why should I buy it
a higher then Level/1?
The cost is 1 point per level and the only reason to get it
at a higher level is to make it easier to find.
Is the level of the artifact the chance it will 'turn up' at
the right time?
No. It means that your chance to find your Porsche in a
crowded parking lot is easier, not that your Porsche will
happen to be in any random parking lot you are in.
ETHEREAL ARTIFACTS: TALISMANS
Who can use a talisman?
Anyone.
Why does a Talisman cost 2 points when the matching skill
would only cost 1?
One point per level is for the skill, and the other is for
the attunement to the object. Keep in mind that Talismans can
boost skill above 6 and provide an object with which to use
certain skills! (Try to use your Large Weapons skill without
a large weapon handy...)
CELESTIAL ARTIFACTS: RELICS AND RELIQUARIES
How much is the cost of a relic/reliquary?
The rules were a bit scattered (between p.42 and p.71), but
here they are.
o A Relic costs 3 essence per level
o A Reliquary costs 3 essence per level
o A Celestial Artifact that is both but the essence can
only be used for song in the Relic costs 5 essence per
level.
o A celestial artifact that is both but the essence can be
used for other purposes costs 6 essence per level.
Can soliders use relics/reliquaries?
Soldiers can use Corporeal songs in a relic, any normal
reliquaries, and reliquaries that power a relic for the use
of Corporeal songs.
Celestials
What gender are Angels (or Demons for that matter)?
Angels don't have an innate gender. They do take on a
physical gender while using a Vessel, but the essential
nature of an Angel is Celestial. Everything else is just
window dressing.
A humanoid and animal coupling of celestials is not
bestiality. A humanoid and object-like coupling is not a
fetish. A male and male coupling is not homosexuality. A male
and female coupling is not heterosexuality. Those concepts
just don't apply to the celestials. They are not sexed and
engendered in their celestial forms; they are beyond such
distinctions. If anything, 'unisexual' or 'omnisexual' would
be better terms, if applicable at all. There is no celestial
sexual drive oriented toward wheels of fire, serpents, male
or female forms. There is no celestial sexual orientation
except to another celestial, disregarding their form.
Can anyone recognize a celestial in a Vessel? Even with a
Perception roll?
No. No. Celestials have to 'tip their hand' by disturbing the
Symphony or exercising powers; but then again, Soldiers do
that, too, when they disturb the Symphony... so, in other
words, not by sight or Perception.
Celestial Forms
Can someone disguise while in their Celestial form? (e.g.
looking like a Lilim when you are a Balseraph?) or change
your shape temporarily or permanently?
In Heaven, no... unless you're a demon. But demons can't go
to heaven... or can they? Anyway, this is more a GM call for
the purposes of their campaign. Perhaps make any PC with the
power to disguise their Celestial Form pay for it.
Character Creation
Can a starting character convert character points to
attribute points or forces? If they buy a force, does this
mean their total character points go up?
Officially, the purchase of attributes and Forces is not a
part of character creation. As always, GMs can make their own
ruling on that. And, no, you don't get more points when you
raise your forces!
Combat and Damage
Hey! Strength gives almost no bonus to damage, but directly
increases the chance to hit! What gives?
Strength is used for dukin' it out and for large weapons. In
the latter case, it's pretty obvious why this statistic was
chose. As for the former, in the long run we are talking
about a game that is much more superheroic than realistic. In
a world like that, it matters little if the strong guy hits a
lot of times and the weak guy hits relatively few, the end
result is the same: The strong guy does more damage. It's
possible that a new skill (Judo perhaps) based on agility
will be included for those martial artist types.
Those angels are using guns!
They certainly are. While Celestials have access to powerful
Songs, when they are fighting on the Corporeal plane (i.e.
Earth), it makes less Disturbance and is frequently more
effective to eliminate their opponent's Vessel using
Corporeal means. They'd probably use hand-grenades and
rocket-launchers more often if it didn't generate so much
noise (in several senses of the word).
It seems that even an 'average' human can take a lot of hits.
Let's say he has 2 Corporeal, 4 str and a Vessel/2. That
gives him 16 Body... enough to soak up 5 average hits with a
gun!
First, the average person has on the order of a 3-1/3
Strength and 5/3 Corporeal. Everyone born a human gets a
Vessel equal to their Corporeal forces for free. So the truly
average human has around 11 Body. The average computer geek
or game designer will have less while a jock might have many
more.
Second, this is not unreasonable. Most people don't die from
one gunshot wound (or one kick, or one stab wound). Sure, if
someone walks right up to you and puts a shotgun to your head
without you being able to defend yourself, The GM is free to
double or triple the damage because normal combat conditions
(where someone is dodging around and trying to AVOID being
hit) don't apply.
A way to simulate the ability to take out mortals easily is
to allow double or triple damage for killing attacks (such as
guns) when dealing with normal humans (not celestials,
soldiers, saints or the undead).
What if someone switches Vessels in the same combat round
that they get hit?
All things are simultaneous in a round in basic combat. So,
both happen, the celestial gets hit and switches vessel (in
other words, the original vessel is the one damaged).
Whenever that celestial switches back, that celestial will
find their body in the condition as if the hit took place.
This might mean that the body is unconscious or even dead.
In advanced combat, follow the order given on p.68 or on the
GM's screen. In this case, switching Vessels is a
supernatural power which happens before getting hit.
Remember that each Vessel has their own supply of Body hits,
making an alternate Vessel much more attractive a choice!
Does physical damage cause pain/shock effects?
There are no pain effects other Stunning (p.62).
D666
Why is it that someone with a total skill of 10 and someone
with a total skill of 4 have the same chance for a
spectacular (6 on the check digit) result?
Actually, they don't. The person with a 10 is much more
likely to succeed, then get the six on the check digit, while
the person with the 4 skill has a hard time succeeding at
all! So in this example the first person has a 11 chances out
of 72 to get the spectacular result while his unskilled
counterpart only has a 2 in 72 chance for the same result.
Do I have to use the check digit? What about situations where
the check digit wouldn't apply?
Except where the rules specifically mention it (and not even
then for you gung-ho GMs), the check digit need never be
consulted. In most other cases it can just be used for color
at the whim of the GM.
Ummmm... isn't '666' supposed to be a satanic number of some
sort?
Yes and no. It was mentioned in the revelation according to
Saint John the Divine as the Number of the Beast. If
anything, it was a warning as a way to recognize 'the Beast',
whomever or whatever it might be. But for this game, it's
just a fun way of representing a different dice convention.
We couldn't just call it 3d6, and 2d6/d6 doesn't quite the
same ring to it.
Demons
GENERAL
Where are those popular demons of legend, the Incubi and
Succubi?
You can make servants of Andrealphus or Beleth serve this
role (or some of the Lilim, of course). At the moment, there
are no plans for these Bands to appear in the game (but that
is not to say that they never will...).
CALABIM
What does it look like to observers when one of the Calabim
uses his resonance on an object?
It depends on who the fallen angel is working for. The
resonance of Belial's demons burns its targets, or appears to
-- neither flame nor heat is actually created, that's just
the closest that the Symphony can come to representing the
effect. Saminga's Calabim cause materials to rust, rot,
shrink away into nothingness.
Some other suggestions have been posted on Joel Cardella's
page.
LILIM
The check digit determines the "level" of the desire that
someone has, right?
Nope. The level of difficulty in granting their desire.
How does a Lilim handle two people calling in favors at once?
Heh. A very, very clever Lilim would try to work it out,
somehow, that both are satisfied. More likely she will
experience dissonance and possibly discord from the
conflicting favors. Other avenues might include trying to
re-negotiate the favor so they don't conflict or asking
someone else to help resolve the situation (which might
involve yet another favor being issued).
Demon Princes
GENERAL
In the german issue are for example demon princes for Cold,
Ocean and Illness/Plagues. Will they be introduced in the
following material?
Some were cut for length reasons, others don't fit in the
slightly restructured universe of In Nomine, others will
appear in later supplements. Although, there are no plans to
introduce the ones you mentioned this year, unless they are
featured in an adventure (yet to be conceived, much less
written). Perhaps they'll appear in Pyramid magazine.
Disturbance
Does switching to celestial form cause the same degree of
disturbance in the Symphony as actually leaving or returning
from the Celestial Realm?
Yes.
Does the 2 essence required to change into Celestial form add
to this?
Yes.
Does a celestial going to the Celestial Realm cause double
the disturbance (once for changing form, and again for
leaving)?
Yes, although entering doesn't cause double since one enters
the Corporeal Realm directly into a vessel.
As a general guideline, GMs should always make the
Disturbance rules side with celestial powers being as noisy
as possible. Celestial powers make celestials hot stuff on
earth, but there is always risk involved -- being noticed.
The 2 Essence is added since there are times when a celestial
doesn't have to spend that Essence, e.g., transforming in a
Tether (although, compared to the noise a Tether makes, who
would notice?). And, since it's been discussed on the list,
here. Let me add that switching vessels should be as loud as
going celestial.
So Tethers can mask the Disturbance a Celestial causes?
This hasn't been completely fleshed out, but it should end up
with some dampening effect. Check with us later.
Falling
An angel can become a demon just by rolling badly?!
Not at all. If you never generate Dissonance, you cannot
fall. Also angels have a 'safety net' of sorts. The first
time they 'fall', they become outcasts and can try to regain
their former divine status. It's the second time that takes
them on that long plunge hellward. Also the odds are
astoundingly skewed against falling as long as you have fewer
than 5 points of Dissonance. Three points or less can always
be converted to Discord, staving off the reckoning for some
time.
When an Angel falls, I guess his/her celestial appearance
changes, but what causes that change? Can it be somewhat
controlled?
Metaphysics. Angel are creatures whose nature is attuned to
some part of the Symphony - their Choir, their Superior,
their own Word. By rejecting that nature, their Resonances
change... they strike a new chord. Their outward appearance
reflects the Resonance of a Dark Angel.
It says here that Malakim can't fall at all! Can this be
right?
Yup. Malakim don't Fall. However, they do gain Dissonance
everytime they act dishonorably, especially by breaking one
of their oaths. If they succeed on their Dissonance roll,
they just get one more note of Dissonance.
If they fail a Dissonance roll the first time, they become
Outcast (and gain another note of Dissonance). Yes, they can
be Outcast.
For each time an Outcast Malakite fails a Dissonance roll,
they gain another note of Dissonance and a level of Discord.
While Malakim can't Fall mechanically, who knows, maybe some
day an Outcast Malakite with Dissonance and Discord coming
out the wazoo will choose to Fall.
For that reason, Outcast Malakim are on the top of Dominic's
and Laurence's hit list. As well as on the top of every other
Malakite hit list. Good luck!
Forces
If a character has no forces, how are the characteristics
determined?
He has 4 times his forces in the area, which is zero. So his
total attributes are zero in both stats. Hell of a life isn't
it? In the case of Remnants, the only reason a stiff
Celestial breeze won't just blow such a wretch away is that
they are protected by their Corporeal Vessel.
Hearts
Can a Heart be moved from Heaven to Hell? (like you WANT to
fall so you take your Heart from Heaven before Dominic's
pals get it and you move it to Hell... I don't say it has to
be easy... just want to know if it's possible or completely
impossible).
Hearts are something your Superior provides so that you have
a celestial home. When you Fall/Repent your heart
self-destructs since you have broken a metaphysical contact
with your Superior, and your Superior no longer supports your
heart.
You can swipe (or be given) your heart from your Superior and
put it anywhere you want, except for the Celestial Realm of
the Other Side -- as long as your Superior supports it. Eli
gave all his servants their hearts to do with as they please.
Beleth and Blandine keep their servants' hearts in their
respective towers. When the rules give restrictions about
hearts not leaving the Celestial Realms, that's only because
the Superior will stop supporting your heart if you go that
far (as with the Archangels). BTW, If you swipe your heart,
your Superior will be swiping the floor with your downy butt,
plus you'll get a note of Dissonance.
Also, keep in mind, there is no advantage to having a heart
on earth, except for becoming very hard to locate by your
Superior (yes, with some Superiors, that's a blessing).
Can you have more than one Heart? (like in: oooops Dominic
got my Heart and kept it locked somewhere to track me and
now my Demon Prince made me a new one?)
If you can convince more than one Superior that your are
their faithful Servitor, sure. Good luck. The Symphony will
be happy to accept your disbanded Forces once one of your
Superiors find out. Don't forget that a fallen angel's heart
shatters...
What is the process for creating a Heart? Can an Angel/Demon
with his/her own Word create a Heart for him/herself? for
another? Or is that the exlusive realm of ArchAngel & Demon
Princes?
The Latter. There are no rules, the GM makes the call since
the mechanics of being a Superior are outside the scope of
the PCs.
Hearts can't leave the Celestial plane... where are the
Hearts of Beleth/Blandine servitors?
See above. The hearts of their servants were created in the
Marches, and thus, never have the opportunity to leave the
Celestial Realm. Obviously, B/B might stop supporting your
heart if you (try) to remove it from their Towers.
How about a Lilim's heart?
Lilim serving a Superior would have a Superior-forged heart
in some Principality of Hell.
Lilim who are 'free' don't have a heart (grin). They could,
if a Superior or Lilith were willing, trade a favor in order
to have that Superior create and keep a heart for her.
Creating hearts is a heavy Essence expense on the part of a
Superior, and they don't do it lightly. This would be 6
levels of Geas for sure. And another 6 levels of Geas in
payment to have the Superior 'liberate' her heart and let her
put it where she wants.
Rites
GENERAL
Some rites seem rather deadly to the performer. For example,
how can angels of Jean perform the 'two hours plugged into
the mains' ritual? How come Belial's servants have to
already be immune to fire to perform his 250-degree ritual?
The performance of the Rite itself grants immunity during the
duration of the Rite unless the rite specifically specifies
otherwise.
Roles
How do humans buy Roles? The rules on p.72 seem to be screwed
up.
They are indeed inconsistent; please use the following (some
repeated from p.43):
Humans don't buy a Role. They can buy levels of Status/x at
the cost of [(Status - 1) * 2] with the first level of Status
being automatically added for free. In other words, each
level of Status beyond the free one costs two points.
The cost of a Role for Celestials is the [(Role's Status *
Role's Level) / 2], rounded up if necessary.
Soldiers
Who do soldiers serve? And what powers do they gain thereby?
Two different parts of the text (p.32 and p.190) seem to
have conflicting ideas about this.
Soldiers serve a side -- God or Hell. They are directly
supervised by a Superior's Servitor. It is possible for a
Soldier to receive the Servitor Attunements of the Superior
they are serving under (directly or indirectly). So they
could directly serve Joe the Angel, but get Joe's superior's
attunements.
Laurence is charged with coordinating the Soldiers of God on
earth. He makes his Servitor Attunements available to them
(regardless of who else they may serve or whatever religion
they may be). Does this give the soldiers of God and edge?
Well, yes, but they need it since they are rather
outnumbered.
Does a soldier using a Song cause a Disturbance?
All focused essence expenditures cause disturbance, though
the source is unrecognizeable as angelic, demonic or human.
The default use of essence by untrained humans does not cause
a disturbance.
Songs
CLAWS
Why are higher levels of this song less accurate than lower
levels?
It has to do with the length. The longer claws do much more
damage, but are unwieldy, hence the lower accuracy. You can
always use the smaller claws if you want a better chance to
hit and are willing to have reduced damage.
NUMIOUS CORPUS
Is this one song or many? Do I have to buy them all?
Each feature under Numious Corpus is a seperate song and must
be paid for individually.
Words
What kinds of Words are there?
Vices, virtues, ideas, ideologies, causes, things of the
world. There will be in an upcoming supplement an outline of
Words I have compiled based on Scholastic/Aristotelian
theo/philosophy.
Archangels and Princes seem to have much shorter names, is
this because they are more powerful?
No, cooler. They got the world to call their abstract causes
by one Word. Sort of like Cher.
Do words get shorter (and more abstract) as the celestials
influence increases?
Possibly, but not necessarily. Celestials don't lightly
change Words. They're more likely to be stripped of a Word
than to change it. The Word you first get is you. You are
uniquely tuned to it. To try to change it on your own goes
against nature. You must promote the Word which is yours, not
shop around for cooler one.
BACKGROUND QUESTIONS
Are there more Angels or Demons?
Lucifer's forces were originally outnumberd 2 to 1 in the War
and, one must presume, he lost more of his host than God did.
Afterwards, though, he started creating new demons as fast as
he could, as described on p.155. The current situation seems
to be that there are more demons than angels, but demons are
generally weaker. Notice how scared the demon was in A Dark
Dream when he heard an angel was in town? This is how a vast
number of the infernal hordes feel about the average angel.
If demons can't enter Heaven, but angels can go into Hell,
why haven't all the angels gotten together and gone and
kicked the demons' collective butts?
Good question. And one that is asked at the highest levels of
the angelic hierarchy (and the middle levels and probably all
the way down to the bottom)!
One answer is that fighting someone on their home territory,
especially masters of deception and lies, is probably a bad
idea tactically.
Another answer is that they might lose the very thing they
were fighting over: the souls of all those humans. Some
Celestials (on either side) don't give a hoot about humanity,
but a whole lot do. And The Boss seems to care a great deal.
Undoubtably, such a fight would have major consequences on
those that inhabit the earth.
Good and Evil aren't really mentioned in the book, what is
all the fuss about then? (i.e. Why are the Angels and Devils
fighting?)
Angels are trying to follow God's plan to the best of their
flawed perceptions. Demons are trying to chart their own
course of selfishness which means, nearly by default, they
have to work for Hell (the rebel's rebels are quickly hunted
down and, at best, killed).
Are angels and demons the hidden masters of a helpless
humanity? Is this another 'humans are helpless pawn of
unknowable forces' game?
Hardly! The celestials (on either side), are doing their best
to influence humanity toward their way of thinking, but most
of their efforts are spent combating each other. Humanity
with its wonderful free will can choose their own Destiny...
or Fate.
============================================================
Steve Jackson Games * In Nomine
